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The decision came after Clarke made 64 against United Arab Emirates in a warm-up game.

Clarke had been set a February 21 deadline to prove his fitness before Australia's clash against Bangladesh in Brisbane.

However, Warne is puzzled as to why Australia did not rest Clarke for the Bangladesh fixture instead of England.

"If I was in the medicos' spot - for an extra week, why not play this game and miss the next one?" Warne said on Friday.

"This is a big game. Australia v England in the first game at the MCG. Sold out, 100,000 people. What better way to give everyone a bit of a spring - the crowd, the followers and fans - your captain's ready to play.

"That's the call they've made. They're the ones that have got all the medical advice and everything."

Warned added: "I think he's just ready to go. Obviously the physios and everybody planned a certain path for Michael, they said 'right this is the eight week period, you need to do this and need to do that'.

"They've basically tried to break him. They've tried to break him with his fitness tests, they've tried to break him in all parts of it.

"Being that fit at the moment, he knows deep down now that he's done. There's nothing more that he can do."